Problems affecting the Belize fishing industry
Though the fishing industry of Belize, is highly succesful, it is not without its challenges. These include pollution, over-exploitation of fishing grounds and the threat of extinction . Challanges facing the industry *Pollution - Water pollution damages not only the environment the fish live in but the fish themselves. Being suited for certain conditions, just like all other animals, including humans, means that fish cannot tolerate and environment outside its capabilites, making the area uninhabitale. The polluting of water wtih industrial and other forms of water increases, acidity, temperature, as well as makes the water murky, and some of the solid pollutants even directly damage the fish. *Over-Exploiting of fishing grounds - It is not uncommon for fishermen to find areas that are extremely profitable, more so than other. However heavily relying on this are makes it harder for the population here to make a come back in size. The result is a once prosperous area now devoid of life. *Loss of breeding grounds - The mangroves provide a breeding gorund, as well as shelter and food for young offspring. It also acts as a natural break water and makes the water within it calmer, which means better conditions for the fish to live in. For many reasons these habitats are being lost. dumping as well as pollution, are destroying these habitats, and without a safe place to reproduce the pipulation of the fish will slowly begin to decrease as more are caught, and there are no young ones to replace the ones that have been caught. (and served to me at gloria's in port royal ..... just remember you said i get points for creativity) *Ill equiped shipping vessles - Many a time fishing boats will go out, and return with a large haul. However a quater of it is not has begone to degrade, making it in edible. This is because adequete storage facillities are not always in place until the vessles comeback from there sometimes weekend long trips. This to a uneccesary waste in raw material, as these fish could have been left to procreate and replenish their numbers. *Insufficient processing and stroage facilities - There is a lack of proper storage and processing facilities. Fish is a perishable resource and there is much waste of its by-products. *Illegal practices - In order to preserve the environment and sustain the fishing industry, the Belize government has outlawed certain fishing techniques, such as trawling ., which involves dragging a weighted net across the seafloor in order to catch fish. This needlessly disturbs the ocean floor and uplifts soil, clouding the waters, making it difficult for life to survie. It also catches a number of young fish wich are unusable, and are wated, when they could have been left to mature for a later time. However some fishing vessels still participate in some of these activities. Another activity is fishing without a valid permit. Here is a nice clip, to give an example,link . *Difficulty keeping up wth global advances - Emerging technologies make it easier for larger and more advanced counteries, to get larger catches, with the same our less effort. With supply in great demand this gives other compertitors an edge over a smaller country such as Belize. This causes Belize to lose buisness, as world demand is great. To ensuure the survivial of their livelihood some fishermen resort to illegal methods, to get larger catches, which ironically weathers the life span of their buisness. *The Threat of Extinction - A major threat that is a product of all the others, is the biocide of entire species, leading to a series of extincions. Extincition can be defined as the annihilation of an entire species from the face of the earth. Obviously this is bad because without fish there can be no fishing industry.